How to add cloud-based bookmarks to your Nextcloud server

Nextcloud is one of the most flexible and easy to use cloud servers. Not only is Nextcloud an incredibly simple cloud server to get up and running, but you can expand its capabilities through a user-friendly app store.

An especially useful feature that can be included in the Nextcloud server is the cloud-based Bookmarks app. With this feature, users can add and tag bookmarks to be saved in their personal Nextcloud account. This makes it easy for users to reach their work-based bookmarks from any browser that can access the Nextcloud server.

I’ll walk you through the process of adding the Bookmarks app and then illustrate how easy it is to work with. I assume your Nextcloud server is set up and running, and that you have an administrative account on the server.

Nexcloud will download and install the app. Once it’s installed, the app is ready to go—there are no settings for the app.

How to use the Bookmarks app with your Nextcloud server

Click the Apps drop-down and select Bookmarks from the list. In the new window, you will see a warning that you have no bookmarks. Nextcloud makes it easy to add bookmarks—it includes a bookmarklet that you can drag to your browser’s toolbar (Figure A).

Figure A

The Nextcloud bookmarklet is ready to be added to your browser.

Once you drag the bookmarklet to your browser, you can add bookmarks to Nextcloud by pointing your browser to the site you want to bookmark and then clicking the bookmarklet. In the window that appears, you can edit the bookmark’s name, tag, and description (Figure B).

Figure B

Adding a TechRepublic Cloud bookmark to Nextcloud.

After the bookmark is added, you can return to your Nextcloud server, click the Apps drop-down, click Bookmarks, and view/edit your current listing of bookmarks. If there’s a URL you want to visit, click the name (Figure C) and a new tab will open to that link.

Figure C

Bookmarks are easily accessed, edited, and tagged.

You can also add new bookmarks from within the Nextcloud Bookmark app by typing in the URL in the Address textarea and clicking the + button. Nextcloud will call out to the URL to get the name of the site and automatically add it to the bookmark.

The Bookmarks app can import and export bookmarks, which means you can export a browser’s bookmarks and then import them into Nexcloud or vice versa. To get to this feature, click the Bookmarks app from the Apps drop-down, click the small gear icon in the bottom right of the window, and click either Export or Import (Figure D). The only downfall of the Import feature is that your bookmarks won’t be tagged, so you’ll have to do that manually.

Figure D

Importing and exporting bookmarks.

Making Nextcloud users’ lives easier

The Bookmarks app helps make your life a tiny bit easier. This feature may not change the way you work, improve your ROI, or secure your network, but it can extend your Nextcloud server offerings and help users get the most out of your company’s hosted cloud. And with the help of the Nextcloud bookmarklet, adding bookmarks to a Nextcloud account is incredibly simple.